RingFlash Resource

Flaghead Photographic announce the availability of the long awaited Rayflash Ringflash Adapter for the Nikon SB900.

The Rayflash  Ringflash Adaptor, a unique lighting accessory developed by a professional photographer from the Czech Republic creates the same lighting effect normally only available from ringflash units made by studio flash equipment manufacturers, which are expensive, heavy and tethered, i.e. have a cable from the ringflash to power pack.

The Rayflash Ringflash Adapter creates a very special lighting effect: it produces a virtually shadow-less look on the front of your subject, while a soft even shadow appears around the edges.

The Rayflash Ringflash Adapter is now available for use with the Nikon SB900:

Two adaptors are available:
The RAN179 for the Nikon SB900 & D300, D200, D70, D80, D60, D50, 40, 40X etc  and the  D1
And the RAN189 for the Nikon SB900 & D1, D2, D3, D700
Both items have a retail price of £183.

The Rayflash Ringflash Adapter does not change the colour temperature of the flash that powers it and loses only ONE f-stop!  The additional weight is comfortably accommodated by the SB900.

The Rayflash is now available from good photo retailers.  for more details visit Flaghead Photographic web site www.flaghead.co.uk or call +44 (0) 1202 733 123.

Small ring flash units are ideal for macro, especially when using bellows as it’s the most effective way to get light onto tiny subjects. Another way is to mount flashguns on brackets at either side but this makes the rig more cumbersome and sometimes not flexible enough when shooting subjects in tight spaces. The smaller the ring unit the better. The vintage Doi (reviewed here: Doi Auto Circle Flash ) was perfect for this kind of photography.

To the right is a typical bellows set up with the Doi Auto Circle Flashand was used to take the photo below. The shot is of an English five pence piece. Notice how the ring light has accentuated the etchings in the coin, making it have a more three dimensional surface. This is one of the key benefits of ring flash illumination at

When using bellows you have to take into account a loss of exposure caused by the extension and distance of the lens from the film plane. More modern ring flash systems have TTL (through the lens) systems that automatically compensate for the exposure change.

In this set up the auto sensor of the Doi is on the flash head in front of the lens and is designed for use with a 50mm lens so, unless you have access to exposure tables and can work out the exposure factor of the bellows extension, you need to switch to manual and do a series of tests. This is necessary with film-based set ups, but for digital users you can just take a shot and preview the exposure on the LCD re-adjust and take again until you have the correct exposure.

With flash it’s perfectly okay to hand hold, as this shot, the rig. Although you still have to be still to avoid moving out of the plane of focus as the shot is taken.

Doi were Japanese manufacturers of photography accessories who were around in the 70s and early 80s.

The Auto Circle Flash was one of their range and quite a decent bit of kit, like other items in their portfolio.

Weighing just 120g, the ring flash head is lighter than the Centon / Vivitar 5000 style model because the batteries are housed in a separate pack that slides onto the hot shoe. The ring flash then connects to the battery pack with a seven pin din cord and is mounted on the lens using a Series VII adaptor ring. The diameter of the inner hole is 50mm so it’s best suited to longer lenses or ones with a filter thread of 49mm or 52mm otherwise you may get vignetting. The manual indicates it’s fine for use with lenses up to 58mm filter thread.

The power pack takes four AA batteries which means it’s more costly to run than a Vivitar 5000 and there’s an socket for a DC 6v mains power supply. This power adaptor was sold as an optional accessory. Having 6v power means it enjoys a more meaty output with a decent guide number of 26. That’s as much as you need for macro, but also means it’s quite useful for portraiture.

It has a single pin in the centre of the shoe that allows the camera to trigger the flash – there’s no form of dedication. The pack rotates on the shoe bracket allowing a swing of 90 degrees in either direction.

The rear plate has the on/off switch and a ready late that glows orange. There’s an exposure table on one side panel and a macro exposure table on the other, so you don’t need to refer to your manual when using this.

There’s also a 2.5mm jack to connect a PC flash cable and a test button housed on the hot shoe bracket.

The size of the power pack, excluding the shoe, is 80x97x39mm, and it weighs 205g without batteries.

As the ring flash head is light it adds no real strain on the filter mount so focusing isn’t affected. It has a power light and a sensor. The sensor cuts the output so correct exposure is delivered at two aperture settings marked blue and red. On the exposure scale this indicates f/16 on red and f/8 on blue when the CCD or film sensitivity of ISO100 is used. This makes it much more powerful than the Vivitar / Centon style, but also it can be a touch restrictive if you’re trying to shoot with a wide aperture for minimal depth of-field. In the film days you could have opted for ISO25 film to get an f/4 aperture on the blue setting, but currently that’s not possible with digital.

One other neat feature is a focusing lamp which can be used to provide light to help you focus in low light. It’s especially useful when using manual equipment where the lens is already stopped down when you’re focusing or when you work in low light or at extreme bellows extension. The light does take it out of the batteries though, so should be used infrequently.

The flash head dimensions are approx 87x125x25mm.

The unit was supplied in a hard case with a divider to separate the flash and the power pack. The pack can be left in the case and the ring flash head conveniently connected via a hole in the side.

The colour temperature of the tube is quoted as 5600k. We found the output a shade bluer than the Vivitar unit when compared side by side, but this is easily corrected if you’re shooting in digitally or with an 81 series warm filter when shooting using film.

We just stumbled on this – a link to another DIY ringflash project from Tommy Huynh on his web site – the Ferel Photographer. This one looks quite good and could be made on a budget to fit any flash gun you care to use.
Good work Tommy. See the whole article here: The Pocket Ringlight

If you’ve seen other DIY projects that you think are worthy of a mention please add their website links in the comments below.

Sinar Bron Imaging currently have a promotion on their web site offering the Broncolor Ringflash P with a 50% discount when a new Para 220 FB or Para 330 FB is purchased at catalogue price.
The offer expires on June 30 2009.
Details here: Sinar Bron Imaging 2nd Quarter Promotions

The winner of the first Orbis competition is announced. Young Norwegian photographer Eirik Slyngstad wins, with his ethereal fashion-oriented image taken using the Orbis ring flash.

The company said the competition was so hard to judge and they couldn’t pick a winner at all when they first started judging.

"We agonised over our decision for a week and even took to carrying around prints of our favourite photos to stick on the walls of our office and homes. That’s how hard it was! The runners-up are all awesome photos."

There’s a gallery on the Orbis site here: Orbis ring flash competition Runner ups 

The Nikonians Site has posted a Video showing the Metz 15 MS-1 being used for indoor macro photography.
You can see the video narrated by Martin Joergensen here: www.nikonians-podcasts.org/NPC-OLV-2009-03-16/
There’s also a podcast available of the video.

The makers of the Orbis RingFlash have announced a competition where the winner will recieve a voucher worth 250USD to spend with US photography retailer, Adorama. Whether you’re a keen amateur, student or professional photographer, it’s free to enter photos taken with, or featuring the orbis™ ring flash.

To enter you need to submit your photos taken with the orbis to this flickr group: Orbis Ring Flash. If you don’t have a flickr account don’t worry it’s free.

All shortlisted entries will also be posted in the orbis Gallery with a credit where applicable during the competition. And the winning photo will appear in the Orbis newsletter that goes out to thousands of photographers.

Full terms and conditions can be found here
Be aware that the winning photo can be used by the company for one year online and in print marketing materials but the photographer will get a credit so it could be good expsoure. Also the judges prefer portrait format shots.

If you fancy a huge ring light and would like a handy DIY project check out J Yoseph’s detailed step by step illustrated guide to building this ring light. It’s really well explained and has some clear illustrations of each stage. It’s a US site so costs are in dollars and the total outlay is estimated at just $75. Well worth a look if you are after unique lighting for your studio flash photography. View the complete guide here: Jyoseph.com DIY Ring Flash Tutorial Revised.

One photographer, Rob Blissett, who saw this guide built his own version based on this ring light but with some modifications. You can check out his step by step tutorial here: The DIY Studio Ring Light.

And another example here on studiolighting.net: DIY studio ring light using plywood.

There are many photographers who’ve wanted to modify the light from a flash or bulb. One of the latest I came across was the photographer known for making interesting 5×4 wooden large-format cameras. The Rayment field and technical cameras, made by Rayment Kirby, combine this photographer’s photographic, technical and engineering skills. He’s now applied these skills to modifying a softbox design into a studio ring light.

His light is comprises a large soft box with a tunnel built through its centre. This tunnel is large enough for the camera to shoot through the opening. The diffusing panel on the front of the box is a sheet of translucent opal Perspex with a square hole cut in the middle. On the back of the soft box is a hole at each side of the central tunnel to allow a studio flash head to poke through into the reflector.

The technique is explained with illustrations on his photography web site here: DIY Studio Ring Light. The site also includes a showcase of Rayment’s fantatsic studio and outdoor glamour and fashion photography.